Objectives
Abstract: In this presentation I describe a new 5-year research project that supports the development and application of the 2nd UK Earth system model (UKESM2). I will outline the planned developments to UKESM2, building on the UKESM1 model, and then discuss a range of science work packages utilizing the full UKESM model and its component models. These work packages cover: (i) the representation of Near Term Climate Forcers and the potential mitigation of future climate change and air quality, (ii) simulation of the global carbon cycle and land-based climate change mitigation, (iii) the risk of overshooting key climate policy targets, such as the 2015 Paris warming targets, and ensuing consequences for potential Earth system tipping points and climate change impacts. Finally, I will outline how UKESM2 and the TerraFIRMA project aligns with, and will contribute to, a new Horizon Europe proposal, OptimESM, which includes BSC and EC-Earth as a partner.
Short bio: Professor Colin Jones is head of the UK Earth system modelling project, a collaboration between the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) and the Met Office Hadley Centre (MOHC). He is a senior scientist in the National Centre for Atmospheric Science and a professor at the University of Leeds. He is based at the UK Met Office in Exeter, UK. Prior to the UKESM project, Prof. Jones was head of the Rossby Centre at the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) and part of the EC-Earth consortium.